used to be kind. He’d been her secret hero. But things had changed—he was a successful man now, with power and money. As for her, whatever kind of future she’d expected for herself, it wasn’t this.
Since London, she’d told herself she didn’t care in the least what people thought of her. But everything had changed, catastrophically, that day when she’d met Connor at the fair. It was the same again today, when she confronted him so disastrously in the place that used to be her home. She’d felt her carefully built defences crumble away as she stumbled over one word after another. It was plain that he’d formed his own rock-solid opinion of her character, and he’d never given her one chance to defend herself.
* * *
She had made a terrible mistake visiting the Hall. And her nightmare day wasn’t over yet, because as soon as Billy dropped her off at the Molinas’ farmhouse, Agnes came hurrying out. ‘Oh, Isobel!’ She had clearly been weeping.
‘Agnes, what’s happened?’ Isobel felt her heart thudding. ‘Is Joseph ill?’
‘No. But we’ve had a letter from our landlord, saying that our rent is overdue. And this is our last warning!’
‘But surely Joseph always pays the rent on time?’
Agnes’s eyes brimmed with fresh tears. ‘He’s just told me that he hasn’t paid it for two months—he hasn’t the money! And the landlord’s letter says the next letter we get will be from his lawyer. Oh, Isobel, if we have to leave here, I don’t know where we’ll go, how we’ll live...’
Isobel put her arm round her. ‘Agnes. Don’t cry. I’m sure there will be something we can do.’
But her heart was pounding with dread.
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